Rock music has its fair share of male fronted bands that have made an impact on their genre but I think I could use all ten digits on my hands to count how many female fronted rock bands that come to mind that have cemented their names into that club. Fortunately Kristina & The Dolls (formerly known as The Paper Dolls) puts female fronted rock in the spotlight again with their new album The Human Condition. The music is reminiscent of the female fronted bands that came before as well as a familiar tinge of the 90’s grunge era. Comparisons to follow.

Right off the bat the album begins with Angeles which has that grunge sound you’d find with bands like Hole, Sometime Sunday, or L7. Front woman Kristina Allison’s voice is both tender and rough offering up a smooth coherent delivery that’s pleasant to listen to while mixing in that snarling attitude that’s reminiscent of Joan Jett. Track two, Under Covers, has that Single sense to it offering up as close a radio friendly sound to it that somewhat deviates from the overall sound, but manages to capture the spirit of the album while bringing to mind the earlier softer musical sense of Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots, and Garbage. Track five, Too Bad So Sad, again is reminiscent of something else, think Pink and No Doubt. There’s an undertone of snarling bitterness here but delivered with honey.  Don’t let the comparisons throw you off though as Kristina & The Dolls have all the guff to stand on their own and the album is non-filler all the way through to the end. The album has a ton of energy and a lot of passion plus its raw sounding. There’s no electronic interference in the music whatsoever. What you see is what you get and what you get is rock music from the blaring guitars to the energetic drums down to Kristina’s fantastic voice. It’s almost impossible for me to find anything to really hate about the album. Do I think its going to be a hard sell to people who were over grunge by 2000? Maybe. But to ignore this album for that reason would be shooting yourself in the foot. I highly recommend.